Neeli Bendapudi
Neeli Bendapudi is an American academic and the 18th president of the University of Louisville.
Bendapudi was named president on April 3, 2018 and her first day was May 15, 2018. She replaced James R. Ramsey who resigned after a scandal that implicated him.
Bendapudi is the first non-white president of the University and is noted for her attention to developing a culture of openness.
Bendapudi was born in India and moved to the United States to attend graduate school at the University of Kansas where she earned her Ph.D. Following a time at both Ohio State University and Texas A&M University she returned to Kansas to serve as the dean of the University of Kansas School of Business. From July 1, 2016 until her election as president at Louisville, she served as provost and executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas.
Her legacy at Kansas is rather mixed, in particular her successor cut 150 faculty and staff positions.
On July 13, 2018, Bendapudi, in response to Papa John's Pizza founder John Schnatter's use of a racial slur, announced that Schnatter's name would be struck from U of L's football stadium's name. She was widely praised for this decision and the manner in which she made it.
